FCPS comprehensive boundary review

[Anonymous]

You people act like school districts never redistricting kids! It’s actually regular practice in most districts. FCPS has not done it in decades because they always caved to the loudest voices. At the expense of running an efficient school system and reducing costs. FCPS needs to do the comprehensive look now, make changes that might be temporarily painful, and then revisit every five years for much smaller changes. You will be fine, your kids will be fine. And the system will be better run.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I would argue that many many Forestville families are much more integrated with the Herndon community. They are going west on route 7 to grocery shop and kids activities. It’s so much closer to their homes than the areas that McLean families go.

Just because you argue it, doesn’t make it true.

I typically don’t share a close bond with other grocery shoppers. In fact, other than saying excuse me, I can’t remember the last time I spoke to another customer in a grocery store. Again, feels like you all are grasping at straws to justify the upcoming major upheaval.

Fwiw, I don’t know a single person who lives in that pyramid- not one. So weird to not know a single soul in my supposed community.

Also, you know what will not bring these communities together? One community being dragged to the other unwillingly while the other continues to call us elite racists. Just saying.

This. I live in western great falls. I literally NEVER shop or do anything in Herndon. All our sports are in great falls. Church McLean. We don’t know a single person in the Herndon pyramid. In fact i had no clue where HMS even was. Just googled mapped it and it’s 17 to HMS and 19 to copper. How is 2 minutes different worth uprooting kids just to cover up test scores. We all know it has nothing to do with proximity. If Herndon was as high performing as Langley the county/school board/everyone on this thread wouldn’t be trying to move GF into it.

And i agree with another previous poster. Yes there were previous boundary changes but with lengthy grandfathering. With this one you could have kids 2 years apart in different schools getting a wildly different education

You do realize the reason why Langley perfoms much better than Herndon, on average, is because of demographics. Your high performing student will find their high performing peer group at any school, and will take the higher lever classes. Instead of having 100 sections of Multivariable Calculus, they might have one, but it is still offered. Herndon may not send many kids to Ivies, but if your kid has Ivy stats, then they would have a better chance of getting an offer if they graduate from Herndon.

We are zoned for Herndon, and among our friend group we know UMC kids that have gone onto: GT, UGA, Florida, UVA, VT, Princeton, Georgtown, CMU. Some in Langley might say these schools are not cream of the crop, but I wouldn’t say they are terrible outcomes either. Add to this, there are far fewer Ivy+ grads in the Herndon district, so there is no leg up with legacy admissions either.

Oh, and from what I hear, these Herndon grads are doing well at their respective universities. Graduating from the “lower performing” high school was not detrimental to their college success.

Great. So happy to hear you like your school pyramid. Now imagine they took your kids away from that great situation so that they could make a number in one school closer to a number at another. Pretty ridiculous, right?

If it were for the greater good, I would be ok with that. It might make my own little spoiled kid a bit more resilient. Could be a learning opportunity. Maybe they could refer to that experience as a hardship in their common app.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people act like school districts never redistricting kids! It’s actually regular practice in most districts. FCPS has not done it in decades because they always caved to the loudest voices. At the expense of running an efficient school system and reducing costs. FCPS needs to do the comprehensive look now, make changes that might be temporarily painful, and then revisit every five years for much smaller changes. You will be fine, your kids will be fine. And the system will be better run.

Other districts have similar schools. Not the variability that we are talking about here.

Gotta love when people say “temporary pain” to describe F’ing other people’s kids over. A euphemism if I ever heard one. 🤡

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moving HVES to Lewis would be farther from their homes. Also, HVES is only about 52.6% white; it is hardly a segregated school. The issue is between high- and low-performers, not race.

FCPS doesn't have segregated schools.

Anymore

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I understand the community fears, but maybe trust that one community can be just as kind and welcoming as another. Otherwise, the message becomes, "We only want to be a part of this community. We don't want anything to do with those people." And that is not a good message to send -- not to the children or to the people who live in a different community.

Yes, of course. "Honey, we've enjoyed having you for a while, but now we are going to give you to another family. I'm sure you will like them."

Since 2008 kids have been redistricted out of Oakton, Madison, Westfield, Chantilly, Annandale, Lewis, Fairfax, and McLean to other high schools. And of course there were big boundary changes when South County opened in 2005.

If kids get redistricted out of Langley, they’ll do fine. Stop being such babies and model better behavior for your kids. You are no more “tight knit” than any other part of the county, except to the extent that you find common ground in fearing and disrespecting others.

The behaviors that I care to model is to stand up for what you believe in and don’t let others force their extreme ideology on you. I actually am a big believer in compassion, but you can’t bring compassion about by forcing somebody to do something against their will.

Another principle that I am instilling in my kids is to never let people consider you to just be an object to achieve their goals or desires. I understand that complicates your equity agenda, but sorry, not going let my kids be offered up on your altar.

There really isn’t anything extreme in what’s likely to emerge from this boundary review. Sending kids to schools closer to their homes where feasible is just common sense.

If they kowtow to the obvious segregationists in the county, they will fail to have acted in the best interests of all the kids.

Except they are not doing this. Especially in cases like WSHS to Lewis.

Hunt Valley: closest to WSHS, followed by LB and SoCo. Lewis is a distant 4th, almost the same distance as HV to Robinson and not much closer than WS to Hayfield.

Keene Mill: closest to WSHS, then Lewis, which is only slightly closer than Lake Braddock. The Keene Mill attendance island all the way at the edge of the pyramid down past Orange Hunt and Hunt Valley is closest to LB and should be zoned for White Oaks and LB, NOT Keene Mill, Irving and WSHS. FCPS should fix that island instead of rezoning other neighborhoods.

West Springfield Elementary: closest to WSHS (walk zone for some neighborhoods) except for the Daventry neighborhood. The bulk of WS elementary is closest to WSHS and LBSS. Only the Daventry neighborhood is closer to Lewis than LBSS.

Orange Hunt: closest to WSHS, followed by SoCo and LBSS, then Robinson. Lewis is the 5th closest school to OH.

Cardinal Forest: across the street from WSHS, followed by LB, Robinson and possibly SoCo or Lewis. It is probably a coin toss between closeness to Lewis or SoCo, depending on traffic.

Rolling Valley: (split feeder with a couple of streets going to Lewis) closest to WSHS (walk zone for some neighborhoods), then SoCo and LB. Lewis is 4th. The entire Rolling Valley neighborhood zone should attend WSHS, not Lewis.

Sangster Island: closest to WSHS, followed by LBSS, SoCo and Robinson. Lewis is a distant 5th.

None, zero, zip, nada of the WSHS zoned neighborhoods are closer to Lewis than WSHS. Lewis isn't even 2nd closest, except for Daventry and the Keene Mill zoned neighbohoods off Tiverton, Harwood Place and Glenister, which are equally close to Lewis than WSHS by maybe a street or two in either direction.

Rezoning any WSHS neighborhood to Lewis does not shorten a single commute, and does not bring a single student closer to their high school, or their 2nd or 3rd closest high schools, and certainly not for the school being pushed by Saratoga mom, Hunt Valley.

That anyone from WSHS will be sent to Lewis is all rumors. The “leaked” map had 3 elementary schools (Bren Mar Park, Weyanoke, and Hunt Valley) going to Lewis, which would result in 9 elementary feeders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would argue that many many Forestville families are much more integrated with the Herndon community. They are going west on route 7 to grocery shop and kids activities. It’s so much closer to their homes than the areas that McLean families go.

Just because you argue it, doesn’t make it true.

I typically don’t share a close bond with other grocery shoppers. In fact, other than saying excuse me, I can’t remember the last time I spoke to another customer in a grocery store. Again, feels like you all are grasping at straws to justify the upcoming major upheaval.

Fwiw, I don’t know a single person who lives in that pyramid- not one. So weird to not know a single soul in my supposed community.

Also, you know what will not bring these communities together? One community being dragged to the other unwillingly while the other continues to call us elite racists. Just saying.

This. I live in western great falls. I literally NEVER shop or do anything in Herndon. All our sports are in great falls. Church McLean. We don’t know a single person in the Herndon pyramid. In fact i had no clue where HMS even was. Just googled mapped it and it’s 17 to HMS and 19 to copper. How is 2 minutes different worth uprooting kids just to cover up test scores. We all know it has nothing to do with proximity. If Herndon was as high performing as Langley the county/school board/everyone on this thread wouldn’t be trying to move GF into it.

And i agree with another previous poster. Yes there were previous boundary changes but with lengthy grandfathering. With this one you could have kids 2 years apart in different schools getting a wildly different education

You do realize the reason why Langley perfoms much better than Herndon, on average, is because of demographics. Your high performing student will find their high performing peer group at any school, and will take the higher lever classes. Instead of having 100 sections of Multivariable Calculus, they might have one, but it is still offered. Herndon may not send many kids to Ivies, but if your kid has Ivy stats, then they would have a better chance of getting an offer if they graduate from Herndon.

We are zoned for Herndon, and among our friend group we know UMC kids that have gone onto: GT, UGA, Florida, UVA, VT, Princeton, Georgtown, CMU. Some in Langley might say these schools are not cream of the crop, but I wouldn’t say they are terrible outcomes either. Add to this, there are far fewer Ivy+ grads in the Herndon district, so there is no leg up with legacy admissions either.

Oh, and from what I hear, these Herndon grads are doing well at their respective universities. Graduating from the “lower performing” high school was not detrimental to their college success.

Great. So happy to hear you like your school pyramid. Now imagine they took your kids away from that great situation so that they could make a number in one school closer to a number at another. Pretty ridiculous, right?

If it were for the greater good, I would be ok with that. It might make my own little spoiled kid a bit more resilient. Could be a learning opportunity. Maybe they could refer to that experience as a hardship in their common app.

And your own kids can write about losing that varsity or leadership spot to the new kids.

What a tangled web you weave. 😉 Good luck with that kumbaya atmosphere at your newly constituted school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moving HVES to Lewis would be farther from their homes. Also, HVES is only about 52.6% white; it is hardly a segregated school. The issue is between high- and low-performers, not race.

FCPS doesn't have segregated schools.

Anymore

Not since any school age kids or tge majority of their parents were even alive.

It is sickening that leftist trolls are trying to throw around this argument, trivializing what segregation actually was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would argue that many many Forestville families are much more integrated with the Herndon community. They are going west on route 7 to grocery shop and kids activities. It’s so much closer to their homes than the areas that McLean families go.

Just because you argue it, doesn’t make it true.

I typically don’t share a close bond with other grocery shoppers. In fact, other than saying excuse me, I can’t remember the last time I spoke to another customer in a grocery store. Again, feels like you all are grasping at straws to justify the upcoming major upheaval.

Fwiw, I don’t know a single person who lives in that pyramid- not one. So weird to not know a single soul in my supposed community.

Also, you know what will not bring these communities together? One community being dragged to the other unwillingly while the other continues to call us elite racists. Just saying.

DP but you *never* have a brief chat with other grocery store customers?

That makes you odd in general .

I’m pleasant to the cashiers, but I’ve got a strong enough social network in the non-errands areas of my life that it’s not really something that I consider one way or another.

Not sure that I’m as much of an outlier as you think I am, but if I am, I guess I’ll muddle through somehow without that witty grocery banter. Or maybe I’ll become a grocery store conversationalist in my twilight years.

nah, you're weird.

It's not a crime.

[Anonymous]

Addressing extreme overcrowding or acute under-enrollment, or taking advantage of opportunities created by school expansions to send kids to closer schools with capacity, all seems within the ambit of typical management by a large school system. Having a 2900-student school next to one projected to have fewer than 1500 within the next five years doesn't seem right.

There aren't perfect solutions, so not every boundary adjustment will advance all those goals, but as long as they advance one of them it will clearly pass the smell test if challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people act like school districts never redistricting kids! It’s actually regular practice in most districts. FCPS has not done it in decades because they always caved to the loudest voices. At the expense of running an efficient school system and reducing costs. FCPS needs to do the comprehensive look now, make changes that might be temporarily painful, and then revisit every five years for much smaller changes. You will be fine, your kids will be fine. And the system will be better run.

One can easily argue that the large over capacity school with some of the shortest commutes and tighest boundaries in the county and strong dedicated community involvement (WSHS) is one of the most effective models of taxpayer stewardship and should be duplicated wherever possible, instead of throwing money away and bussing kids all over for equity, lowering achievement and increasing taxpayer unhappiness.

If WSHS can successfully educate a larger number of students using fewer funds and maximizing space, and limiting commuting dollars spent bussing kids, then they are doing things right, being more efficient and effective, and should be left alone to do their thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people act like school districts never redistricting kids! It’s actually regular practice in most districts. FCPS has not done it in decades because they always caved to the loudest voices. At the expense of running an efficient school system and reducing costs. FCPS needs to do the comprehensive look now, make changes that might be temporarily painful, and then revisit every five years for much smaller changes. You will be fine, your kids will be fine. And the system will be better run.

Even that is not true. They haven't done a county-wide boundary review in decades.

But over the past 16 years there have been multiple redistrictings affecting high schools, including (1) Westfield, Oakton, and Madison to South Lakes; (2) Chantilly to Oakton; (3) Lewis to West Springfield; (4) Annandale to Woodson and Edison; (5) Fairfax to Woodson and Oakton; and (6) McLean to Langley.

However, it is worth noting that, in the past when they did county-wide boundary changes, they started with the assumption that there would be grandfathering of existing HS students, and treated the need to grandfather as a constraint on how many changes they would adopt. They didn't do that this time; rather, they gave themselves complete discretion to grandfather no HS students, or only rising seniors. That has created a lot of angst and reflected a lack of political acumen on the part of this School Board, particularly Rachna Sizemore-Heizer and Kyle McDaniel (who headed the SB committee revising Policy 8130). It is looks even worse because Rachna no longer has kids in school and Kyle is comfortable situated at a school (Oakton) that was just expanded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people act like school districts never redistricting kids! It’s actually regular practice in most districts. FCPS has not done it in decades because they always caved to the loudest voices. At the expense of running an efficient school system and reducing costs. FCPS needs to do the comprehensive look now, make changes that might be temporarily painful, and then revisit every five years for much smaller changes. You will be fine, your kids will be fine. And the system will be better run.

One can easily argue that the large over capacity school with some of the shortest commutes and tighest boundaries in the county and strong dedicated community involvement (WSHS) is one of the most effective models of taxpayer stewardship and should be duplicated wherever possible, instead of throwing money away and bussing kids all over for equity, lowering achievement and increasing taxpayer unhappiness.

If WSHS can successfully educate a larger number of students using fewer funds and maximizing space, and limiting commuting dollars spent bussing kids, then they are doing things right, being more efficient and effective, and should be left alone to do their thing.

WSHS was the beneficiary of a big expansion courtesy of taxpayers and a former Facilities head who was a WSHS graduate. If it got that expansion, still is above capacity, and borders a school with hundreds of available seats, it's hard to argue that it's poor stewardship to move some kids to the other school.

Otherwise you are basically arguing that there are good schools and bad schools, and that it's in the greater interests to triage and let the smaller schools decline with their students having access to fewer academic and extra-curricular opportunities. The "planned shrinkage" model was popular in the Reagan era among economists who argued that cities should deny basic services to areas like the South Bronx until they were totally depopulated and could then be redeveloped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people act like school districts never redistricting kids! It’s actually regular practice in most districts. FCPS has not done it in decades because they always caved to the loudest voices. At the expense of running an efficient school system and reducing costs. FCPS needs to do the comprehensive look now, make changes that might be temporarily painful, and then revisit every five years for much smaller changes. You will be fine, your kids will be fine. And the system will be better run.

One can easily argue that the large over capacity school with some of the shortest commutes and tighest boundaries in the county and strong dedicated community involvement (WSHS) is one of the most effective models of taxpayer stewardship and should be duplicated wherever possible, instead of throwing money away and bussing kids all over for equity, lowering achievement and increasing taxpayer unhappiness.

If WSHS can successfully educate a larger number of students using fewer funds and maximizing space, and limiting commuting dollars spent bussing kids, then they are doing things right, being more efficient and effective, and should be left alone to do their thing.

WSHS was the beneficiary of a big expansion courtesy of taxpayers and a former Facilities head who was a WSHS graduate. If it got that expansion, still is above capacity, and borders a school with hundreds of available seats, it's hard to argue that it's poor stewardship to move some kids to the other school.

Otherwise you are basically arguing that there are good schools and bad schools, and that it's in the greater interests to triage and let the smaller schools decline with their students having access to fewer academic and extra-curricular opportunities. The "planned shrinkage" model was popular in the Reagan era among economists who argued that cities should deny basic services to areas like the South Bronx until they were totally depopulated and could then be redeveloped.

Silly me, I thought that we are pouring money into these poor performing schools. Well, might as well claw those back if they have fewer opportunities and nothing to show for it.

And once again, for you ladies in the back, our kids are not a resource to be deployed for your equity or social justice agenda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people act like school districts never redistricting kids! It’s actually regular practice in most districts. FCPS has not done it in decades because they always caved to the loudest voices. At the expense of running an efficient school system and reducing costs. FCPS needs to do the comprehensive look now, make changes that might be temporarily painful, and then revisit every five years for much smaller changes. You will be fine, your kids will be fine. And the system will be better run.

One can easily argue that the large over capacity school with some of the shortest commutes and tighest boundaries in the county and strong dedicated community involvement (WSHS) is one of the most effective models of taxpayer stewardship and should be duplicated wherever possible, instead of throwing money away and bussing kids all over for equity, lowering achievement and increasing taxpayer unhappiness.

If WSHS can successfully educate a larger number of students using fewer funds and maximizing space, and limiting commuting dollars spent bussing kids, then they are doing things right, being more efficient and effective, and should be left alone to do their thing.

WSHS was the beneficiary of a big expansion courtesy of taxpayers and a former Facilities head who was a WSHS graduate. If it got that expansion, still is above capacity, and borders a school with hundreds of available seats, it's hard to argue that it's poor stewardship to move some kids to the other school.

Otherwise you are basically arguing that there are good schools and bad schools, and that it's in the greater interests to triage and let the smaller schools decline with their students having access to fewer academic and extra-curricular opportunities. The "planned shrinkage" model was popular in the Reagan era among economists who argued that cities should deny basic services to areas like the South Bronx until they were totally depopulated and could then be redeveloped.

Silly me, I thought that we are pouring money into these poor performing schools. Well, might as well claw those back if they have fewer opportunities and nothing to show for it.

And once again, for you ladies in the back, our kids are not a resource to be deployed for your equity or social justice agenda.

Lewis sure didn't get anywhere near the amount of money that West Springfield got for a renovation. Not even close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would argue that many many Forestville families are much more integrated with the Herndon community. They are going west on route 7 to grocery shop and kids activities. It’s so much closer to their homes than the areas that McLean families go.

Most Forestville families simply shop in Great Falls - you know, where they live??